economy. tonight, washington is none too happy about being left out of the loop as the fbi investigates the general petraeus sex scandal. >> it's rather shocking to find out candidly that we weren't briefed. >> it would have been nice to know before we saw it on tv. >> the president was certainly surprised when he was informed about the situation regarding general petraeus on thursday. >> meanwhile, the top general in afghanistan allegedly caught red-handed exchanging flirtatious e-mails of his own with jill kelley. plus the debut of my new cnn colleague, the culinary superstar who will dine on anything, anthony bourdain is here. joining me is barbara starr and intelligence correspondent, suzanne kelly. welcome back to you both. every night i say right off the top, can any of us get our heads round this and how much more ridiculous can it get, and lo and behold, it gets more ridiculous. barbara starr, let's try and get to what we believe to be the facts behind all the kind of lurid, titillating headlines. a second general today, petraeus' successor in afghanistan, general john allen, a

president did. he found out from an fbi employee concerned that national security may have been breached as a result of the affair. president barack obama didn't find out about the affair until after election day. they are upset that neither they nor the president were informed until late last week. the president should have been told about it and he said there was no breach of security as a result of the affair the congressman called the fbi is leadership to report the information he got on october the 31st but the fbi's probe had already been underway for months the journal says that the investigation began in may when email described a threatening woman that jill kellie a family friend of david's. by late summer the wall street journal reports that the bureau had led to broad well to try as, that's when the journal says top law- enforcement officials informed eric holder of the situation. once the white house when some staffer knows when sperry's people find out about something i think it's almost instant you see this all the time. if former fbi assistant director says under its proto

. >> and, suzanne, we don't know how long the fbi was investigating, do we know if the obama administration knew about this before the election? >> no, but wouldn't we all love to know the answer to that. that really is a burning question. just days after the election, something like this comes out. clearly something like this had been going on for a while. well, it actually meant he was having sex with her under the desk, but the fbi thought it might refer to corruption. in other words, doing something under the table. and that's how this investigation started. the fbi then went back and traced all of his e-mails and ascertained that he was having this affair with this woman, and of course that is a total violation of top secret security rules. you are not supposed to compromise yourself in any way where you could be blackmailed, especially the cia director. there is almost nobody in the government who knows as many secrets as he does, and people are routinely fired for putting themselves in this position when they have a top secret security clearance. what was even worse is

turnout? the fbi pull documents from home broadwell's overnight. on the hill today, an appearance by cia deputy director. in charge ofly cia. hewas asked by reporters if petraeus waseral having an affair. respond.t >> to help you follow the petraeus down the, we have a special photo gallery on our with the key players. he confronted on wjla.com -- you wjla.com.id on >> congress will be trying to government from cliff.g over the fiscal the president talked with labor leaders today. tomorrow, the president will ceos fromnumber of the nation's largest countries -- companies. the deadline is december 31. >> the developing story out of waldorf for the 17-year-old charge and the death of a cab been connected to a l shooting on a footpath last month. is facing first- murder charges after shot andes say he doged the woman walking her on october 26. joshua mebane also shot and killed a cab driver last week in the district. the cab was found on fire with body inside. >> this was the day of brown.ing for kwame he faced to judges. -- two judges. sam ford is live at superior court with that story. ha

, i want to say that i have a lot of confidence generally in the fbi and they have a difficult job. and so, i'm going to wait and see -- >> well the white house says there are protocols that is the word they use when notifying the white house about criminal investigations. turns out there is a 2007 memo by the ten attorney general about sush investigatich invest. now it goes onto say it is critically important to have free quent and expeditious communications about issues. yet the white house said the president didn't know about the affair until after the election. fran, you have been talking to your sources. what have you learned? >> what is interesting, what we understand is that paula broadwell had consented to this search of her home. but they agreed to get a search warrant and went ahead and executed that. we understand from law enforcement officials that they are reviewing those documents they say that the classified material is not substantial that they have seen and two, while it may be a technical violation it is not egregious. the law enforcement official told me that the

officials that the fbi is now investigating, and this is an ongoing investigation into paula broadwell. she is someone who's had close access to general petraeus, she was his biographer and wrote a book on general petraeus called "all in." she has spent substantial time with him the fbi investigation is seeing whether he had improper access to general petraeus' e-mails may have accidentally or deliberately had accuracy to classified information. and paula broadwell has been close to david petraeus which many people could say it's an indication of the timing of this. >> david, you're excellent at covering all the spying agencies. what's going on? >> well, i think richard mentioned the fbi investigation of paula broadwell. paula broadwell is general petraeus' biographer, and somebody who has been close to him. in literary circles. to speak a moment about the cia, general petraeus when he came to the cia about 15 months ago appointed as his deputy the then acting director michael morale who is a career agency analyst, michael morel has now stepped in as acting director again. i think that

complicated: involving the fbi, cia, ppntagon, the white houseeand congress. "i am puzzled by much of what has occurred in to an affair with broadwell, which amm to light when the fbi investigated what one u-s official has described ass "jealous" emails broadwell sent to elley. now, general allen is under investigation for allegedly sending to kelley email messages one defense official escrrbed as "flirtatiius." defense officials say authorities are pages of documents. "it - really makes yoo wonderrhow he it, and the motivation to do o - that from afar." the news about allen--which the national security council spooesman says president obama learned about the same day petraeus resigned-- has put allen's nominntion to be nato's supreme allied commander on hold..allen denies any wrongdoing and &premains on duty in afghanistan. "the presidentt has great confidence ii the military, great coofidence in the commander, and will continue to have that confidence." a defenss official tells cnn there's a defense department ty" the investigation into allennis connected to the petraeus fbi investigatio

david petraeus. we have new details about how fbi investigators stumbled on his affair and is the timing of his resignation add up? plus, who is paula broadwell? the woman at the center of the scandal? tonight, how she became so close with petraeus along with the warning signs that something may have been wrong. and an "outfront" investigation into complaints the red cross is not doing enough to help victims of sandy. are donations getting to the people who need them? let's go "outfront." good evening, everyone. tonight, a rescisky affair. there are new questions about the affair that led cia director david petraeus to resign and when did he pose a national security risk. here's what we can tell you now. the affair came to light during an fbi investigation of so-called jealousy e-mail sent by paula broadwell to a woman in tampa named jill kelley. an official confirms to cnn -- to stop sending harassing e-mails to kelley, who along with her husband has known petraeus and their family for more than five years. that couple met the four star general when he was stationed at medil air force b

committee including maryland's a representative will meet with the fbi and cia officials on wednesday to ask questions about the investigation. former cia director general michael hayden says of the resignation is sad, the cia will survive. >> i do not think it will affect the institution jury obviously it will have an emotional effect. in terms of the agency doing its job, not at all. >> president obama accepted his resignation on friday. president obama has officially won the vote in florida. the state finally finished counting all of those votes today and declared president obama the winner. the president got 50% of the vote compared to governor mitt romney 49.1%. is a difference of about 74,000 votes. but florida, the president now officially has 332 electoral votes to romney's 206. >> vatican computer expert got a two month suspended sentence over a scandal involving the leak of confidential documents. >> it vatican computer expert was sentenced for help with the pope's former butler still and leak confidential documents to an italian journalist. he was arrested by vatican authoriti

what's going on with the generals? leon panetta orders ethics review. the fbi agent, he's the guy who brought down the millennium bomber. >>> taking out the military leader of hamas and fire from the gaza strip. >> israel will continue to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people. >> we'll talk to michael oren, israel's ambassador to the united states. >>> and president obama at this hour in staten island to hear from storm victims. >>> plus, say cheese. new members of congress pose for their class photo. perhaps the last time they'll look this happy. >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in new york. as the nation learns about the key players and the controversy surrounding general david patreaus, successor at the cia on capitol hill briefing members of the house intelligence committee today. joining me now for our daily fix, chris cillizza managing editor of postpolitics.com, and kelly o'donnell and correspondent pete williams. pete, first to you. talk first about what is going on in the investigation? the fbi agent who was first only known as the person who triggered t

the original fbi investigation which revealed the affair between general petraeus and his biographer paula broadwell. the newest twist, nbc confirming that broadwell e-mailed general allen first from the handle kelley patrol warning him about jill kelley painting her negatively. "the wall street journal" reporting that she tried to stop the fbi investigation that she started. this is news that nbc has not yet confirmed, however, we have been able to confirm that kelley called police over the weekend claiming to be an honorary consul-general and citing diplomatic protection in an effort to get the media including nbc off of her property. >> i'm an honorary consul-general so i have inviolability so i should -- they should not be able to cross my property. i don't know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved, as well. >> video taken by nbc shows diplomatic plates on her car. south korean authorities say she is an honorary consul and the state department says it has no connection to kelley. >> i can assure you that she does not work for the state department and has n

president about the david petraeus scandal and the fbi's investigation. we're covering all the angles of his first news conference since the election. and israel retaliates for rocket attacks with deadly strikes and extremist targets. now hamas is warning that the gates of hell have been opened. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> eight days after his re-election, president obama faced reporters in the midst of an unfolding scandal and with a potential economic crisis holding over his head. but he only got riled up when he responded to republican criticism of his united nations ambassador susan rice. more on that coming up. standby. but first, the president's careful responses about the investigation of this former cia chief david petraeus and on negotiations to avoid what's called the fiscal cliff. our white house correspondent jessica yellin was over at the east strip of the white house. you had a chance to speak to the president and ask him about that looming fiscal cliff. >> reporter: hi, wolf. that's right, i did. i asked the president why anyone should believe

would be wrong. yes, there is word this morning of a shirtless fbi agent. before we get into that, let's talk about the serious implications of the sordid scandal. federal investigators search broadwell's home last night and carried out boxes and boxes of stuff, including a computer. tom fuentes is former fbi assistant director. morning, tom. >> morning, carol. >> as you watch all of this unfold, i want to get your thoughts on it. >> it appears that the fbi has received new information that there may be classified material or something either in documents or on her computers at the residen residence. she gave permission, so it was a consensual search. they went ahead and conducted that search last night and remo removed some material, which will be examined at the office in more detail. if i could add, if it had been really serious usually the fbi, if they were trying to be extra cautious, would go ahead and get a warrant even if permission is given for a consensual search. it really -- the fact that it was consensual, we don't know what exactly information they received to prompt

affair by a veteran agent of the fbi. top officials had been briefed about the investigation, according to him, including the fbi director, robert meehler. here's what really happened. the decision was made to delay the resignation to avoid potential embarrass men to the president before the election. in short the president or somebody close to him decided to put politics first. and, quote. >> now, conveniently petraeus's decision to step down on friday will also prevent him from appearing before congressional investigators later this week. but that's not the only thing that americans were not told before they filled out their ballots last tuesday. on thursday, two days after the election, we were informed that iran had recently attempted to shoot down a u.s. drone that was flying in international airspace. that happened on november 1. in other words, you were not informed about an act of war perpetrated by a rogue regime that's hell bent on the destruction of israel. why? because politics takes precedence under the obama administration and both post election surprises all come on the h

his biographer, paula broadwell, uncovered during an fbi investigation. the bureau was looking into so-called jealous e-mails purchase reportedly send by broadwell to kelley, a petraeus family friend. tonight, the "washington post" has reported that as president obama rearranges his national security team, it is considering asking senator john kerry to serve on the team and the fbi agent was barred from taking part in the case for allegedly sending shirtless pictures of himself to a woman involved in the case. meanwhile, the ghost writer of broadwell's book, vernon loeb, says he was clueless about the affair between petraeus and broadwell. here with the latest on the scandal that keeps getting bigger and more bizarre, cnn's pentagon correspondent barbara starr and intelligence correspondent, suzanne kelly. welcome back to you both. >> thank you. >> when we talked on friday night, it was all just breaking and it seemed a relatively straightforward scandal but none of us thought it would stay that way, and sure enough, tonight, a really bizarre twist. it's not john kerry possibly beco

the story that is dominating washington. the latest on the fbi investigation that led to the sudden resignation of cia director david petraeus on friday. lawmakers are now calling for an inquiry as new details emerge about the entire time line. officials say the investigation began after jill kelley, a 37-year-old volunteer at mcdill air force base in tampa, complained of receiving harassing e-mails. kelley and her husband met petraeus and his wife when he headed the tampa bay central command from 2008 to 2010. now the fbi traced those e-mails to paula broadwell, co-author of the tpetraeus biography that le them to other 0 e-mail that is did indicate a romantic relationship between broadwell and petraeus. this morning "the new york times" report says they were notified of petraeus' affair in the late summer. in the senior law enforcement official said they interviewed petraeus in late october and concluded there was no criminal violation. and on november 6, election day, the fbi informed the director of national intelligence, jim clapper. clapper then told the white house on wednesd

we're joined by senate finance committee chair, diane finestein, as new details about the fbi's investigation and key players emerge. >> we received no advanced notice. it was like a lightning bolt. the way i found out, i came back to washington thursday night. friday morning, the staff director told me there were a number of calls from press about this. i called david petraeus. >> some of petraeus' former military aides tell nbc news, they were uncomfortable with biographer paula broadwell's access to the general. >> i thought this was a little bit strange, that he would take someone who's never written a book and allow them such unfettered access and allow them to write what is really the first biography. >>> cliff talks. president obama reaches out to business and labor to rally support for his plan to raise taxes on the rich. are republicans and democrats any closer to making a deal? >> we've had votes in the senate where we've actually gotten rid of tax credits. i think that's a given. and i think that the vast majority of americans agree with that. the question is, how do

events. on november 2nd, the fbi concluded after the final interview given by paula broadwell that there was no basis for criminal charges. officials tell nbc news that national intelligence director james clapper was told about the investigation the following week, on election day. clapper informed the white house the next day. officials say it was not until thursday, november 8th, however, that president obama was first notified and met with petraeus, who then offered to resign. the president accepted that resignation on friday, the same day that leaders of the house and senate committees first learned of the affair. diane finestein joins me now. congressman, why did you and your colleague on the house side not know about this for all of these months? >> because a decision was made somewhere not to brief us, which is atypical. generally, what we call the four corners, the chair and rankings of both committees are briefed on operationally sensitive matters. this is certainly an operationally sensitive matter. but we weren't briefed. i don't know who made that decision. and i think

involved. what we also know from law enforcement officials is that the fbi is currently investigating paula who has written a become on general petraeus, a favorable account of general petraeus. she talks about having extensive access to the general. they've gone running together, according to her accounts, she's appeared many times on television programs, including on msnbc. the fbi investigation is focusing on whether she had improper access to general petraeus' e-mails and may potentially have looked at classified information. we have also been told that it doesn't appear that any charges are going to be filed. this doesn't appear that it's going to be some sort of imprisonment and that general petraeus himself is not being investigated in this. >> but we don't know if there's an investigation between the resignation and -- >> at this point we can't definitively talk about a connection between those two things. >> let me ask you, colonel jacobs, you've known general petraeus for years. what kind of person is he and what do you think this -- what it does to him and his wife? >> i kn

-mails of one of the fbi investigators, and within the hour, law enforcement officials have conducted a search of paula broadwell's home in north carolina, which is just step as way from the home of rielle hunter, john edwards' former mistress. i always wait until the last minute. can i still ship a gift in time for christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. by december 22nd when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. by earning a degree from capella more iuniversity, you'll have the knowledge to make an impact in your company and take your career to an even greater place. let's get started at capella.edu. ♪ in a worl

. the fbi has its own protocols in terms of how they proceed, and i'm going to let director muller and others examine those protocols and make some statements to the public generally. i do want to emphasize what i've said before. general petraeus had an extraordinary career. he served this country with great distinction in iraq, in afghanistan and as head of the cia. by his own assessment, he did not meet the standards that he felt were necessary as the director of cia with respect to this personal matter that he is now dealing with with his family and with his wife, and it's on that basis that he tendered his resignation and it's on that basis that i accepted it. but i want to emphasize that from my perspective at least, he has provided this country an extraordinary service. we are safer because of the work that dave petraeus has done, and my main hope right now is that he and his family are able to move on and that this ends up being a sing the side note on what has otherwise been an extraordinary career. you know, again, i think you're going to have to talk to the fbi in terms o

sent general allen. >>> and the latest on the fbi investigation that stumbled upon petraeus' affair with his biographer, paula broadwell. two experts from the fbi on why president obama didn't learn of the investigation for six months. let's go "outfront." >>> i'm erin burnett. good evening. "outfront" tonight, a scandal turns more bizarre. new details tonight on the petraeus scandal. the white house, forced to take a stand. not on david petraeus, but on another four-star general, john allen. america's top commander in afghanistan. he was set to become the nato supreme commander, until the president put that nomination on hold today. like petraeus, allen is at the top of the american military. he's a four-star general. one of only four four-star generals in the entire u.s. marine corps. officials are investigating general john allen after finding allegedly inappropriate e-mails between general allen and jill kelley. the same jill kelley who had contacted the fbi about receiving harassing e-mails from petraeus biographer and former mistress, paula broadwell. allen, who once worked fo

paula broadwell. a woman named joe kelly had complained to the fbi with a series of harassing e-mails, they were trailed back to paula broadwell who saw kelly as a rival. reports 20,000 e-mails between kelly and john allen. they have been handed over to the pentagon where they are being analyzed. i interviewed general petraeus and general alan several times. paula broadwell joined me for a conversation early this year. joining me from washington d.c., davidic nake a column else for "the washington post" and martha raddatz a senior affairs correspondent with abc news. two cbs colleagues, norah o'donnell my cohost and john miller correspondent at cbs news who is frequently with me on cbs this morning. i'm please to do have all of them here. we'll be joined by norah and john in just a moment. martha tell me about general petraeus. do you know him. what is it about this story that surprises you most? >> well, i have known general petraeus and covered him in war zones for about a decade and what surprised me most is he seems like a man who is so disciplined and so careful about his i